Following a flurry of late sign-ups, 4 GGers met at Loris gardens to begin getting the gardens back into shape with Myra from the Hammersmith Community Gardens Association (HCGA), and a few local residents from the Friends of Loris Gardens group. After some delays due to traffic and a quick check that her van was locked, Myra met Beth, Biscuits, Sarah and Analiese at the mosaic in the centre of the gardens and explained the task at hand. Two jobs were to be the focus today; firstly, the pond needed clearing of as much algae as possible, and secondly the younger trees required a good drink of water. With a re-purposed butterfly net in hand, Biscuits began algae fishing, whilst Sarah, Analiese and Beth grabbed buckets to make a start on watering.

All was going swimmingly - thankfully not literally in Biscuits' case! - and the group were making good progress. After a couple of trips backwards and forwards, we stopped for a little break from carrying the heavy buckets. It was at this point that Sarah realised her bucket had a hole in it... at least the grass was getting some water on the walk over to the trees!

Once the trees were watered, Analiese and Beth took a couple of litter picks and cleared up a particularly unsightly mess of rice noodles and pasta sheets (goodness knows why it was there in the first plaice 🐟, it's not exactly the most convenient choice for a picnic snack!!) Sarah and Biscuits teamed up to work on the pond together for their remaining time.

An hour and a half later, we stopped for a quick photo before Analiese, Biscuits and Sarah had to head off. This left Beth to rinse algae off the floating "water solider" plants before returning them to the pond. Whilst there is lots still to do, we had definitely made a noticeable impact in just two short hours - and thankfully no one fell in the pond! Hopefully we will be back to continue the job soon 🙂.